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Hello class. Today I would like to start off with an apology. Many of you may have noticed my absence last week. I assure that is was unavoidable. To make up for that I am going to double up and bring you two ideas that have been stirring up in my brain. No boring numbers lesson either. Just straight up deck building. As a bonus both can be built with very little cash investment for their relative environments.
A couple of weeks ago I got to Preview Leyline of Punishment for you. At that time I was very busy with my second job of managing multiple fireworks tents. I can't tell you how difficult it was for me to find time at a computer long enough to write that piece. When I read the article now though I realize a couple of things. First, I need to give you a deck called Fire Works as promised. Second, I missed a major aspect of the card.
Before the deck list let's discuss the card itself. In my initial observation of the card I jumped to the conclusion that it had to be in every Red Deck Wins sideboard. I still stand by the fact that it should be considered based on the expected meta game but there is a flaw that may leave it out of many lists.
Consider any Sligh style red deck for a moment. Each deck list out there has had three potential shortcomings. They are: Losing to Life gain, Running out of Gas, and Lacking defense against agro. While the assets of a low mana curve and blistering speed can compensate in some meta's a RDW player needs to have a board that can help shore up the weaknesses when needed.
That is where I thought Leyline of Punishment went so well with the deck. If you anticipate seeing some lifegain then you bring in Leyline. I thought it was that simple. Apparently in my brain I was stuck in Extended from three years ago when Sulfuric Vortex was the answer. For about a month there RDW was strong enough Zoo players were maindecking Kitchen Finks.
There is a major distinction between Sulfuric Vortex and Leyline of Punishment is damage. Leyline dropped the damage aspect but gained the prevention block and the ability to be played for free. While this trade off is pretty fair in terms of card quality it isn't fair for Red Deck Wins. Let's assume that you will be boarding in the full playset of Leylines when facing a potential Life gain opponent. Boarding less than four would decrease your chances of the free play which is the best aspect of the card. If you trade out four cards you are really just exchanging one weakness for another.
Sure we've hosed up the Life gain/ damage prevention but we've also decreased our Gas. By "gas" I mean cards that impact your opponent's life total. (I really need to do an article on slang terms). Basically our Red deck woks by have every card do maximum damage with minimal mana or sacrifice. Because of this a card that does no damage better be worth it. In too many games a Red Mage will falter with their opponent at 4 or less life. Living in Top Deck mode and drawing worthless lands. By boarding in 4 Leylines we've essentially added 4 cards that are just dead when we are in the end game. Trust me you will hate losing a game that was just one Lightning Bolt away from the win staring at a board or a hand with a Leyline in it.
So at its essence using Leyline of Punishment is a choice. Is the increase defense against Gain/Prevention worth the decrease in Gas/Damage?
Fire Works
While driving my truck around, delivering my explosive goodies, I had time to hack through a mental list for Extended that would potentially use Leyline of Punishment. I had planned on bringing that deck to you in my Preview article but lack of time left it on the back burner. Now I would like to show you my thoughts.
Step one. Building the curve and choosing a focus. I decided that I wanted a deck that would burn. Both for its flavor with the season and its niche in the possible new Extended Metagame. Burn decks don't have the inherent advantage they had when everyone was paying life to crack a fetchland into a shockland untapped. When you opponent starts the game at 17 or 14 life things get pretty easy for a burn deck. However I do anticipate a decent number of Fae decks running around and an opponent's Bitterblossom can be an ally to Burn decks.
By definition Burn decks want to play cards that get maximum damage from minimum investment and they want to do it as quickly as possible. To keep this scenario we are forced into a low costed mana curve. I'll start with 3 one drops, 3 two drops, 3 three drops, and 1 four drop. (Notice I am breaking the Rule of Nine).
In the real of 1 converted mana cost we are spoiled. Lightning Bolt is the most efficient use of mana to make damage. If every red card made 3 damage per mana burn style decks would rule. In Extended we can find enough cards to fill this slot and hold up to Bolts expectations. Lightning Bolt, Spark Elemental, Shard Volley, and Rift Bolt (suspended) are all contenders. I also put Goblin Guide on the list of potentials as well. He can't do Bolt in one turn but he can if we turn him sideways more than once.
The two drops get a much longer list but very few cards stand up to the Bolt standard. Incinerate, Hellspark Elemental, and Searing Blaze where all that I could think of. I do want to consider Keldon Marauders here as well even though it only does a guaranteed two damage. It has potential for a combat swing as well. If we can get one hit in we've done 5 for 2 mana.
Let us now look at the cards in the three mana slot. It's quite a list. I was momentarily considering running the Goblin King, Goblin Captain, and Goblin Assault but that never really made it to paper. The Flagship of the 3 cost cards is a lock. Ball Lightning wins the day. After that however there are many possible cards to debate about. The list would include; Boggart Ram-Gang, Browbeat, Fiery Temper, Flame Javelin, Hell's Thunder, Puncture Blast, Stagger Shock, Thunder Blade charge, and Volcanic Fallout. As well as the Threaten type of cards that can be very large burn spells when facing down a Walletslayer or her ilk.
The list is too extensive to decide on just three. So instead I'm going to cut down to three copies of each card so then I can chose 4. Let me now declare that I am a pro-Browbeat player. I know it is constantly debateable card but with our Fire Works deck the three cards will probably represent 5 or more damage either way. Flame Javelin and Staggershock finish the list started by the Ball Boy. If you are thinking the Fae will be present Volcanic Fallout should replace the Browbeat.
In the four slot I haven't even considered any else other than Surreal Memoir. I love this card. It's basically a guaranteed 6 damage as it draws two instants back to your hand.
"Fire Works"
- Creatures (12)
- 4 Goblin Guide
- 4 Hellspark Elemental
- 4 Ball Lightning
- Spells (29)
- 4 Lightning Bolt
- 4 Rift Bolt
- 4 Incinerate
- 4 Searing Blaze
- 4 Flame Javelin
- 3 Browbeat
- 3 Staggershock
- 3 Surreal Memoir
- Lands (19)
- 17 Mountain
- 2 Teetering Peaks
- Sideboard (15)
- 4 Leyline of Punishment
- 4 Cryoclasm
- 4 Volcanic Fallout
- 3 Mark of Mutiny
Going Life Crazy
At my local store we had a M11 Draft and I something was haunting me all night. I couldn't really place my finger on it until my last game in the finals. Everyone was gaining life. All four decks in the finals we're gaining left and right. It was weird but it gave me an idea. Whatever happened to Felidar Sovereign? Can I set up a deck that can hit that 40 without issue? Serra Ascendant would happily play the costar. So I searched up Life gainers in the new Standard. Here is the list I came up with.
"Livin' the Life"
I don't know if this could be considered a "budget" deck since it has some mid level rares in it. I have found all of these cards pretty easy to trade for though. Play around with and let me know what you think.
That'll wrap it up for today. Real School is starting soon. Hope you're prepared for a fun year. Class dismissed.
